


the home that awaits you

by okayantigone



Series: hisoka’s adventures with time travel [1]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Assassins, Fortune Telling, Gen, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 04:24:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18336125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okayantigone/pseuds/okayantigone
Summary: illumi is on a job in yorknew and he meets a strange magician, who tells him his fortune.// or the one where hisoka goes back in time and says “when your brothers want to leave ... let them go.”





	the home that awaits you

 

illumi was making his way through the marketplace in yorknew city,deftly ducking in between the much taller passers by around him.

there was the usual hustle and bustle that always accompanied the auction which provided him with an excellent cover to do his work effortlessly, and then disappear. the skirts of his elaborate kimono brushed the ground, the silk rustling softly as he made his way between the stalls.

he swiped an overripe peach off one, intending to make it is breakfast, and made to keep moving, when he felt a hand clasp around his wrist tightly. all his senses on instant alert, he forced himself to calmness. it would not do to make a scene and reveal he was more than a mere traveling child. he approximated his voice to high pitched outrage “hey! let go!”

the man holding him was tall, broad in the shoulders, his arms coiled with strength. the hand gripping illumi’s wrist like a vice was pale, long nails filed to point and painted an outrageous red. he had the most unusual golden eyes, which were boring holes into illumi.

“never took you for a thief, illu-chan,” he sing-songed, voice dripping honey.

illumi stiffened. that man knew his name. but illumi didn’t know his, and this was quickly proving to be a very unwelcome situation. he did not deal well with unexpected diversion to the carefully laid out plans he followed on jobs, though to be fair, in his ten or so years of being alive, and five-ish years on the job, he’d never encountered that many diversions to begin with, so it’s not like he had to adapt.

the man tugged his arm, and illumi followed, because there was a shadow beast still on the prowl, looking to find out who’s killed his patron.

this man, illumi was fairly certain, was no shadow beast, but he was cloaked in power - there was a strange energy around him, an otherworldly sensation that rose the hairs on his arms.

he let himself be dragged into an alley. laundry hung overhead on lines stretched between the the two buildings that made up the narrow street. a well-fed stray cat looked up from where it was devouring a discarded chicken sandwich, and studied them, then dismissed them and returned to its food.

on one of the small balconies an elderly woman was watering bright red geraniums and paying them no heed. just another sunny day in yorknew.

illumi snatched his arm back from the man’s grip. “what do you want?” he asked sullenly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

hisoka looked down at his sweetheart’s younger form. this was only a few days before they’d first met officially. illumi has been so pretty, and hisoka couldn’t help but be smitten with his big dark eyes, his soft hair, and clothes finer than anything he’d ever seen, and his haughty dismissive attitude.

he’s always thought illumi looked like a particularly beautiful doll- a favorite, beloved doll, so expensive you never wanted to play with it.

he smiled pleasantly.

illumi looked at the stranger and had he distinct feeling he was being mocked. here, he could see clearly his features- a handsome, rather foreign-looking face, painted in elaborate makeup, bright, audaciously red hair, and gold earrings dangling from his loves, clothes fine, if a little extravagant. he looked like a traveling magician from the glam gas caravans. he would certainly fool anyone without illumi’s keen senses. that man was dangerous.

“you can eat your peach,” the man said warmly. “this will only take a minute. i am a fortune teller, you see. i see the future.”

illumi scoffed.

“i had a feeling,” the man continued, unperturbed, “that i had to be here today, to stop little illumi zoldyck from steeling a peach.”

“you didn’t stop me though,” illumi pointed out, and bit into the peach. this was bad. this was really bad, if his name was known. he was in danger.

“well, i changed my mind. but i did get you out of the way of some very angry community officials, who were looking for a girl of your vague description... make someone important very angry, illu-chan?”

illumi bristled. “none of your business.”

“of course not.” the man agreed easily, with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

“i’ll make you a deal, illu-chan. give me the peach pit, and i’ll tell your fortune. they should be gone by then.”

illumi eyed him suspiciously. “what’s the catch?”

“there’s no catch,” the man reassured. illumi didn’t believe him.

“fine,” he said sullenly.

the man started shuffling cards. his hands were almost a blur as he made them fly around gracefully. it reminded illumi of gotoh’s coin tricks.

he laid the cards out on the ground, and sat, seeming not to mind that the dirt would get on his white trousers. illumi mirrored him, nibbling on the peach.

“you don’t have an easy life,” the man began. “you love your family, but you know they don’t love you back. everyone expects so much of you, and you’ve never been allowed to make a mistake. you’re scared a lot,” he sounded almost sad, as he spoke. “you’re scared all the time.”

he spoke as if in a trance, and illumi couldn’t help but listen, though he wanted to argue and disagree: that voice was hypnotizing.

“you get hurt often,” the magician continued. “but i am going to tell you something. something about your future, that will take you through all the troubles, and all the bad parts. are you ready?”

illumi nodded, transfixed, staring at those beautiful graceful hands moving over the cards.

“someone is coming.” the magician’s voice sounded unbearably close, warm, and soft and conspiratorial, like a promise. “someone is coming for you. not right now, not for a long time, but there is a boy out there, who’s just like you, who is small, and afraid right now. but when he grows up - and he will- he’s going to come for you, and he’s going to save you.”

“i don’t need saving,” illumi whispered.

the tears sliding down his face were salty, by comparison to the peach.

the magician only looked at him, eyebrows arched. “he’s trying to get to you, as fast as he can. you just have to hold out.”

illumi nodded numbly. hold out, because someone was coming for him. what a silly fairytale. what a wonderful dream.

the magician started carefully gathering his cards. “and another thing. you will have brothers - many of them, i know you have one already. and there will come a time, when you will have to decide to let them go. so let them go. every time, just let them go.”

“let them go?”

“yes.” the magician said simply. he stood up with a flourish, and made his cards disappear with a flick of his wrist.

illumi took a little more time to stand, dusting himself off carefully. he held it his hand, the peach pit held carefully between two fingers.

“well,” he said awkwardly. “thank you.”

the magician smiled, ever-so-warmly.

“you’re very welcome illu-chan. i think it’s safe for you to walk away now.”

illumi did. he took a few steps. “wait, how many brothers am i going to -“

but when he turned around, the magician was gone.


End file.
